1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a connector having a connector body within which a plurality of terminal fittings are insert molded, a method of manufacturing the connector, and a die structure for use in this manufacturing method, and is used on vehicles, for example, an automobile, a motorcycle.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, a connector is used to ensure the electric connection and electric insulation.
As an example, there can be taken up a connector that is made of synthetic resin (refer to Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No.8-250193). This connector comprises a connector body having formed integrally on both sides thereof with hood parts to which mate connectors are fitted, and terminal metal fittings having terminal bodies insert molded within the connector body and having on both end sides of the terminal bodies terminal portions that are provided within the hood parts in such a way as to be projected thereinto.
In this connector, in a case where insert molding the terminal bodies into the connector body, the terminal bodies of the plural terminal metal fittings are integrally molded beforehand in a first molded part. This first molded part is integrally formed into a connector of a final configuration when formed into it. As a result of this, insulation is ensured between a plurality of the terminal metal fittings and the terminal metal fittings are positioned with the interspace therebetween being set to a prescribed pitch.
However, in the above-described manufacturing method, in a case where integrally molding a plurality of the terminal metal fittings into the first molded part with these terminal metal fittings set as one stage being arranged in two stages, although the first stage terminal metal fittings can be supported within a die for molding the first molded part, the second stage terminal metal fittings are located in a support-less space and therefore cannot be supported within the die. As a result, in the above-described manufacturing method, a plurality of the terminal metal fittings can be molded integrally with the first molded part only in a one-stage state of their being arranged laterally. For this reason, when the number of the terminal metal fittings increases (the connector has a multipole structure), the width dimension of the connector becomes large, with the result that the connector becomes large in size.